In a shocking turn of events, a secondary school teacher in Stockton-on-Tees has been banned from teaching indefinitely for artificially inflating his students’ grades. Sunjit Kang, the former head of ICT and Business at The Grangefield Academy, was found to have engaged in a “concerted effort to falsify grades and examination performance” in October 2023.
An investigation by the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) revealed that Kang had been grading student work “significantly higher” than the re-moderation marks. Even though he claimed he had done so to benefit the students, the TRA determined that his actions had undermined the integrity of the assessment system and that his motivation was “misguided.”
The probe was triggered when a moderation team for the OCR exam board raised concerns about the authenticity of the work submitted on behalf of pupils. When questioned, Kang attempted to justify his actions by claiming he had used “best case scenario marks” based on what a student might have achieved had they attended additional sessions. However, the panel dismissed this explanation as “fanciful” and “inappropriate.”
Furthermore, the TRA found numerous instances where the name and/or signature of one candidate was present in the work of another, which they concluded was “entirely consistent with an attempt to provide evidence to support grades which had been inflated.” Kang claimed these were “administrative and non-deliberate” errors, but the panel found him to have been dishonest and lacking in integrity.
The decision to ban Kang from teaching came after the TRA determined that there was “some risk of the repetition of this behaviour” due to the lack of evidence that he had developed insight and remorse for his actions. Kang was not present for the panel’s determination on 17 December.
This case serves as a stark reminder of the importance of maintaining the highest standards of academic integrity in our education system. As the public’s trust in the fairness and reliability of assessments is paramount, the TRA’s decisive action in this matter sends a clear message that such unethical practices will not be tolerated.